diff --git a/apps/heft/src/cli/actions/CleanAction.ts b/apps/heft/src/cli/actions/CleanAction.ts
index 33c6fa9be16..0021026a10f 100644
--- a/apps/heft/src/cli/actions/CleanAction.ts
+++ b/apps/heft/src/cli/actions/CleanAction.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ export class CleanAction extends CommandLineAction implements IHeftAction {
     const { heftConfiguration } = this._internalHeftSession;
     const abortSignal: AbortSignal = ensureCliAbortSignal(this._terminal);
 
+    // Record this as the start of task execution.
+    this._metricsCollector.setStartTime();
     initializeHeft(heftConfiguration, this._terminal, this._verboseFlag.value);
     await runWithLoggingAsync(
       this._cleanFilesAsync.bind(this),
diff --git a/common/changes/@rushstack/heft/patch-1_2024-03-14-12-44.json b/common/changes/@rushstack/heft/patch-1_2024-03-14-12-44.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0b5db0cbfa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/changes/@rushstack/heft/patch-1_2024-03-14-12-44.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  "changes": [
+    {
+      "packageName": "@rushstack/heft",
+      "comment": "Fix internal error when run 'heft clean'",
+      "type": "patch"
+    }
+  ],
+  "packageName": "@rushstack/heft"
+}
\ No newline at end of file